Facebook is trying to clean up its Groups experience and limit the reach of potentially problematic users and communities. The company announced multiple changes to groups today, including plans to put users who break rules on probation, further limit the reach of civic and political groups, and require more moderation in groups that have violated Facebook’s rules.

Group members who break Facebook’s rules will suffer various new consequences. Initially, people with repeat violations will be prevented from posting or commenting in any group for a certain period of time. A spokesperson tells The Verge this time could be either seven or 30 days, depending on the number of violations and the severity of them. They also won’t be able to invite other people to any groups or create new groups.

One of the biggest changes is around members who break rules. Groups that have numerous violations will soon come with a warning label, too. Whenever a user tries to join one of these groups, they’ll receive a disclaimer that the group has violated community standards, which might dissuade them from joining. Facebook will also limit invite notifications for these groups. For existing members, the company will reduce the distribution of the group’s content, meaning it’ll be shown lower in the News Feed

Finally, these violating groups’ admins and moderators will have to temporarily approve all posts whenever the group has a substantial number of members who have violated policies or were part of other groups that were removed for breaking the rules. If these admins or moderators just approve everything, even content that breaks the rules, the entire group will be taken down.

The company continues to be in a game of whack-a-mole, where it attempts to squash the bad groups and members, only to see others sprout up. These new rules might dissuade some people from behaving badly or limit their time on the platform, but there’s always a chance that they just create a new account or skirt around the rules without breaking them.

Source- The Verge

Country- U.S